{"id":18937,"date":"2012-05-31T12:14:32","date_gmt":"2012-05-31T17:14:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/?p=18937"},"modified":"2012-05-31T13:23:38","modified_gmt":"2012-05-31T18:23:38","slug":"biographies-of-jason-shaw-as-first-deaf-solar-pv-installer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2012\/05\/31\/biographies-of-jason-shaw-as-first-deaf-solar-pv-installer\/","title":{"rendered":"Biographies of Jason Shaw as first Deaf Solar PV Installer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Biographies of Jason Shaw as first Deaf Solar PV Installer in nation<\/strong><\/p>\n

To see Jason Shaw’s ASL video interview –\u00a0<\/em>http:\/\/imaginesolar.com\/jason-shaw<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Short Biography of myself, Jason Shaw, first Deaf Certified Solar PV
\nInstaller This is Jason Shaw, a deaf Texas Journeyman Electrician and
\nfirst Deaf certified solar PV installer in the nation! After two years
\nof training, I took and passed the NABCEP Solar PV Installer
\nCertification Exam in March of 2012 making me became a certified Solar
\nPV Installer (Certification #051112-171 from North American Board of
\nProfessional Practioners (NABCEP)).<\/p>\n

Background<\/p>\n

I am not a stranger to the clean energy field, having spent seventeen
\nyears as a licensed electrician, most of them in commercial and
\nindustrial construction field, and 5 years with building management
\ncontrol integration. I was laid off in April of 2009 with the dramatic
\nslow down in the construction industry. After being on the job hunt for
\na year, coupled with the frustration of finding a position fitting my
\nbackground with supervisory experience, I decided to look at my career
\noptions so I can find employment in different field.<\/p>\n

The Story<\/p>\n

I reached out to Texas Workforce Solutions-Rural Capital in Round Rock
\nand discussed various alternative career options. Texas Workforce
\nSolutions encouraged me to get with Cathy Redson, a professional Solar
\nPV instructor, at the Green Job Workshop with the Texas Renewable
\nEnergy Roundup in Salado, Texas in April 2010. At the workshop, Ms.
\nRedson and I spent over two hours discussing the various options for me
\nto enter the \u201cGreen Job\u201d field. We both settled on the direction for
\nmyself to undergo training in the solar PV field since the electrical
\nexperience I held complemented the skills needed for the solar PV
\nfield.<\/p>\n

In May 2010, I enrolled in the Austin Community College\u2019s continuing
\neducation solar program undertaking several courses in Solar PV, Solar
\nThermal and Wind Energy. The first solar PV course I took was the HART
\n1071 with Cathy Redson as one of the two solar PV instructors with
\nSuzanne White. This course, which was featured in a KXAN news report
\ntitled \u201cGirl power meets solar power\u201d
\n(http:\/\/www.kxan.com\/dpp\/news\/education\/austin-kxan-Girl-Power-meets-solar-pow
\ner<\/a>), had 14 women with three men as part of ACC\u2019s \u201cWomen in Green Job\u201d
\nprogram.<\/p>\n

I continued to take renewable energy courses at Austin Community
\nCollege after finishing HART 1071; however I still could not find any
\npositions in the solar PV industry due to my background making me
\noverqualified for many of the open solar PV installer positions which
\nwere going for apprentice electricians. I determined the next course of
\naction, in addition to training, was to start building up networking
\nconnections in the Clean Energy field. The first thing I did was to
\njoin a student group, Renewable Energy Student Association, at Austin
\nCommunity College as an officer with the title of Continuing Education
\nOutreach Coordinator in fall 2010.<\/p>\n

I still was frustrated with not being employed, not only in the solar
\nPV field, but also in the electrical field. I needed to gain experience
\nwith the installation, with lead role, of at least two solar PV systems
\nover 1KW in order to take the North America Board of Energy Practioners
\n(NABCEP) Solar PV Installer Certification exam after I eventually
\ncompleted all the continuing education training in Renewable Energy in
\nthe Spring of 2011.<\/p>\n

I heard about and decided to attend an event hosted by Texas Clean
\nEnergy Foundation, Solar Energy Entrepreneurs Network (SEEN) in March of
\n2010, (http:\/\/sites.google.com\/site\/wwwaustinseen\/<\/a>). At the SEEN function, I
\nmet the executive director of NABCEP, Ezra Auerbach, from New York.
\nAuerbach was in Austin, Texas to finalize the detail of a new program
\nwith ImagineSolar offering an alternative experience pathway lab, the
\nfirst of its kind in the nation, with solar PV installation for
\njourneyman and masters electricians in order to help them qualify for
\nthe NABCEP Solar PV Installer Certification exam. Auerbach shared the
\ndevelopment with me after I shared my frustration of not getting the
\nneeded experience to qualify for the solar PV installer exam. Auerbach
\nalso mentioned another program, CNEST or Comprehensive-National
\nElectrician Solar Training, a grant program administered by Peter
\nBrodeur with Workforce Solutions-Capital Area in Austin, Texas.<\/p>\n

I was appreciative for Auerbach providing me the information and
\nenrolled in the CNEST program in summer 2011. In addition, in my role
\nas the new Co-Chair of RESA, I worked to turn RESA into a student
\nchapter of American Solar Energy Society (ASES), making Austin
\nCommunity College the first community college in the nation and the
\nfirst of the higher education institute in Texas to have a student
\nchapter of ASES. With that success, I elected to remain a student at
\nACC to help RESA make the transition to being a student chapter under
\nASES and enrolled in the credit portion of the Renewable Energy
\nSpecialization program. I was elected as the President of RESA for the
\nfall 2011 term under the new leadership structure I had created.<\/p>\n

Result<\/p>\n

I finally completed all the Renewable Energy training with ImagineSolar
\nand attempted, with DARS helping cover the exam expenses, to pass the<\/p>\n

NABCEP Solar PV Installer Certification exam, one of the toughest in
\nthe nation with 30 percent of people passing it, in fall 2011 and did
\nnot pass. Undeterred, I continued to study further at Austin Community
\nCollege, ImagineSolar and SolPowerPeople to aid him further with
\npreparation of 2nd attempt. On the 2nd attempt in March of 2012, I
\npassed the exam! I am now officially a certified solar PV installer,
\njoining 1500 other certified solar PV installers in the nation.
\nAuerbach, contacted me to give congratulations and informed me that, as
\nfar as NABCEP was aware, I was the first Deaf individual in the nation
\nto become a certified solar PV installer.<\/p>\n

In addition, I was re-elected to continue to serve as the President of
\nRenewable Energy Student Association, a student chapter of ASES, at ACC
\nfor term beginning fall 2012. My role, as the President of RESA is to
\nlead a team to work on providing professional developments for students
\nat ACC in all aspects of Renewable Energy, Building Efficiency and
\nAlternative Technologies for Transportation.<\/p>\n

Goals<\/p>\n

After trying different paths, I had decided to change my major at ACC
\nfrom Renewable Energy Specialization to Business Management with a
\ncertification in Small Business Management. I plan to get employed in
\nthe solar PV industry and am looking into various options from starting
\na consulting business, solar PV integration company, establishing a
\nnon-profit organization to serve the Deaf community by doing outreach,
\neducation\/training and community service modeled on 1 House At A Time
\nto help the low-income families within the deaf community to do energy
\nupgrades on their homes. I will be taking the NABCEP Solar PV Technical
\nSale exam as well as the Masters Electrician Exam. In addition, I am
\nplanning to purse the NABCEP Small Wind Installer Certification after
\nstrong encouragement from the wind energy community.<\/p>\n

Jason Shaw<\/p>\n

President of RESA<\/p>\n

Email: Jason.Shaw@g.austincc.edu
\n http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jshawjman<\/a>
\n512-905-7826 (TEXT ONLY!!)
\n512-994-0781 (VP)<\/p>\n

RESA<\/p>\n

Austin Community College
\n1020 Grove Blvd.
\nAustin, TX 78741
\nOffice: 512.223.6225\/Fax: 512.223.6761
\nRESA Website: http:\/\/www.austincc.edu\/resa\/<\/a>
\nRESA E-mail: austinccresa@gmail.com<\/p>\n

Sources
\nAustin Community College District
\nAlexis Patterson Hanes, Senior Public Information Coordinator
\nApatter1@austincc.edu
\nHighland Business Center
\n5930 Middle Fiskville Rd.
\nAustin, Texas 78752-4390
\nWork: 512-223-7596
\nCell: 512-762-2034
\nwww.austincc.edu\/<\/p>\n

ImagineSolar, Inc
\nMary Lenoard, Assistant to Chief Executive Officer, Michael Kuhn.
\nmary.leonard@imaginesolar.com
\n400 Caven Road
\nAustin, TX 78744
\nWork: 512-443-5725
\nwww.imaginesolar.com\/<\/p>\n

Workforce Solutions-Capital Area Workforce Board
\nPeter Brodeur,
\npeter.brodeur@wfscapitalarea.com
\n6505 Airport Blvd., Ste 101E
\nAustin, TX 78752
\n512-597-7121
\nFax 512-719-4709
\nwww.wfscapitalarea.com<\/p>\n

SolPowerPeople
\nCathy Redson, NABCEP Certified Solar PV Installer and ISPQ Certified
\nInstructor
\ncredson@me.com
\n1-855-SOLPOWER
\ninfo@solpowerpeople.com
\nwww.solpowerpeople.com\/<\/p>\n

North American Board of Energy Practioners (NABCEP)
\nEzra Auerbach
\neauerbach@nabcep.org
\n56 Clifton Country Road, Ste 202
\nClifton Park, NY 12065
\n1-800-654-0021
\nDirect: 1-518-670-4553<\/p>\n

NABCEP Home<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n